Search This Blog

Monday, August 5, 2013

Washington - Intercepted communications in which al Qaeda
leader Ayman al-Zawahri ordered the leader of the affiliate in Yemen to carry
out an attack as early as last Sunday prompted the United States to close
diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa, the New York Times reported
on Monday.

The intercepted conversations were between Zawahri, who
succeeded Osama bin Laden as head of al Qaeda, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head
of the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the newspaper said,
citing American officials.

The Times said it had initially withheld the identities of
the al Qaeda leaders at the request of senior U.S. intelligence officials, but
reported them after the names were disclosed Sunday by McClatchy Newspapers.